Airbus Helicopters Cranks Up Deliveries of AS350s for Public Safety Roles

The Spanish traffic department has ordered four Airbus AS355NPs, as well as three EC135s. Deliveries are set to begin this year and wrap up in 2016.

Airbus Helicopters announced a newly signed contract and a slew of deliveries for AS350 series helicopters during Heli-Expo 2014.

Airbus Helicopters España CEO Francisco Verge got the contract signed last week to supply seven new helicopters to the Spanish traffic department and national police, for delivery between 2014 and 2016. The helicopters include four twin-engine AS355NP Ecureuils and three EC135s.

In the U.S. the company is helping the Oklahoma City and Tulsa police departments upgrade their fleets by closing purchase orders for three (two for Oklohoma City and one for Tulsa) AS350s. These helicopters will join an existing AS350B3e in use by the Oklahoma highway patrol.

In New York City Liberty Helicopters, a tour and charter company, took delivery of an AS350B2 this past December, with another to be delivered next month. These two bring Liberty’s Airbus Helicopters fleet to 15, including 10 AStars, three AS355 TwinStars, an AS365 Dauphin and an EC135.

Meanwhile, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety accepted delivery of a new AS350B3e produced at the Airbus Helicopters Columbus, Miss. plant in January. The aircraft is now at Airbus Helicopters’s completion center in Grand Prairie, Texas and will be ready for service by the end of the first quarter of this year.

And in the deep north, the Alaska Department of Public Safety took delivery of its second AS35B3e and placed it into service this winter with the Alaska Wildlife Troopers and State Troopers. It is helping the department expand operations from Anchorage to Fairbanks, Alaska. The new aircraft is powered by the Turbomeca Arriel 2D engine and is equipped with dual-channel Fadec and engine data recorder.